Matza Balls Ultimate

We are nice Jewish guys who throw and catch frisbees together once a year in Santa Cruz, California at the annual April Fools West Ultimate tournament (thru 2013).  We have been made up of some of the best Ultimate players in the world, have won more April Fools West tournaments than any other team, and have beaten some of the best organized club teams in the country. How does a bunch of yiddishe boys come together and work that kind of magic, and why? A little history would be in order.

In 1987, Steve Courlang made phone calls around the country and gathered tribe members from 6 or 7 teams to play together at the April Fools West Tournament, then at Stanford. The team called themselves The Red Sea Pedestrians. Unfortunately, they lost in the quarterfinals, but bonded and were determined to do it again.

Eight years later, David Barkan, who had been living in Israel in 1987, resurrected the Hebrew disc slingers. This time, he named them the Matza Balls. In 1995, the first year, the Matza Balls had players from New York, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, L.A., and San Francisco. We made it to the finals and faced Seattle, a relative Goliath. Seattle would go on in six months to be #2 in the country, but the remaining uninjured Maccabee wannabees pulled off a stunning upset, and the legend began. by David Barkan

Video of Games (1987-2013)
Video of Team in Israel (2005)

Matza Balls Tournament Results
(click on year below for details)

We Gathered Once A Year To Play And Celebrate at the April Fools West
Ultimate Tournament in 
Santa Cruz, Ca (originally in Palo Alto)
[spanning 4 decades]
note: Roster x/y = number of active (non-injured) players on “Saturday/Sunday”

1988
???

1987
Quarterfinalist
(roster=17)

1999
Champions
(roster=19)

1998
Champions
(roster=13)

1997
Quarterfinalist
(roster=18)

1996
Champions
(roster=19)

1995
Champions
(roster=16)

2009
Finalist
(roster=19/19)

2008
Semifinalist
(roster=22/22)

2007
Champions
(roster=25/25)

2006
Rained Out
2005
Champions
(roster=16/15)

2004
Quarterfinalist
(roster=19/20)

2003
Semifinalist
(roster=18/18)

2002
Semifinalist
(roster=16/17)

2001
Champions
(roster=19/19)

2000
Semifinalist
(roster=21/21)

2013
Champions
(roster=15)

2012
Rained Out
.

2011
Semifinalist
(roster=11/10)

2010
Sunday rained out
(roster=12/12)
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note: Roster = number of active (non-injured) players on Saturday/Sunday.